Learning how to show gratitude to the universe is about unlearning most of those habits that make you unhappy. Complaining, anger, fear and frustration are all the result of being ungrateful.
You are living better than most kings of old. The technology you have today are amazing. The ease with which you can buy your food and live your life in safety and comfort is enough to be grateful for for the next 50 years.
Yet, we tend to focus on the wrong things.
We tend to focus on what’s wrong, what’s missing or what we others have.
Gratitude is the way to align your thoughts with the universe.
Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
– Melody Beattie
The Power of Thank You
The universe loves gratitude. This is an idea I read about probably 20 years ago in one of the very first law of attraction books I ever read.
At the time it did not make much sense but for some reason, the idea stuck.
I have since come to understand this idea much better and I have seen first hand and experienced, just how powerful this idea really is.
The universe DOES NOT want or need your gratitude because it demands it or needs it from you.
The universe loves gratitude because the energy of gratitude is an energy that aligns with the energy of creation and manifestation.
The instant you truly and deeply feel gratitude you instantly shift your energy and align with the law of attraction to be truly open and receptive to attract what you desire.
He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.
– Epictetus
Gratitude is like to a ‘door’. When you feel grateful you open the door and allows everything you desire to come into your life.
When you feel ungrateful by complaining, bitching, being unhappy or being angry at life then you close the door and everything you desire remains outside your experience of life.
7 Ways To Show Gratitude To The Universe
If gratitude is the way to align with everything you want then can it be used as a ‘tool’ to manipulate the universe to manifest what you desire?
To some extent you can. It’s not really manipulation though because real gratitude can not be faked.
When you start creating the habit of showing gratitude to the universe in your daily life you can not help but to manifest everything you want.
What you think about expands. If your thoughts are on what you have and you are grateful for it then you will get more of that.
It truly is the snowball effect in action.
Here are 7 ways to show gratitude to the universe:
1. List It, Say It, Feel It
Gratitude as a daily practice can be very powerful. I’ve written about it before at length because this is such an important idea.
Being grateful means that:
- You become aware of what you DO have
- You pay attention to it and recognize how it makes your life great
- You feel the feeling and the inner sensation of this gratitude that flows from your awareness of it
- You express your gratitude
At any given moment in time you have so much to be grateful for. If you are reading this on a phone and you had more than one meal in the last 24 hours then you are in the top 5% of the world population.
You are privileged.
It doesn’t take long to come up with a list of a hundred things to be grateful for.
It doesn’t really matter what you are grateful for. It is the energy of gratitude that is important.
Taking the time to practice gratitude is where most people fail. Spending time every day to focus on things you are grateful for and to allow yourself to truly connect with gratitude is where the real power lies.
You can also make gratitude a way of life.
Teach yourself to start noticing and feeling gratitude throughout your day.
Verbalize it out loud, in your head or write it in your journal. Find ways to express your gratitude because in expressing it you get to feel it.
2. Be Kind To Yourself
Being kind to yourself is an idea that has gotten a lot of attention in recent years. Mental health has become a big talking point – and rightfully so.
Being kind to yourself is important from a mental health point of view but it goes well beyond that.
Being kind to yourself is a way of showing gratitude to the universe.
You are a child of the universe. You are a Divine creation. When you are kind to yourself, you ‘looking after’ the offspring of the universe.
Far too many people punish themselves in the pursuit of some goal or some ideal.
Think about it this way. If someone does something for you, how do you respond in gratitude?
Apart from verbally thanking them, you feel the urge to return their kindness. You feel a need to do something nice for them in return.
If the universe is your ultimate source of supply that gives you everything in your life, do you not feel that urge to respond in kind?
Being kind to yourself is a way to show gratitude to the universe by indirectly being kind to It.
- Do more of what makes you happy.
- Feed your mind and your spirit with inspiring and uplifting things.
- Look after your body.
- Get plenty of rest.
- Stop punishing yourself in the pursuit of goals or achievements.
- Learn to love yourself unconditionally.
3. Be Kind To Others
It’s funny how we tend to find it easier to be kind to others than we do to ourselves. This is especially true for parents.
We tend to do more for those we love than we do for ourselves. This is actually a big mistake but I digress.
Being kind to others as a way of showing gratitude to the universe revolves around the idea that we are all one.
On a spiritual level we are all brothers and sisters. We all come from the same Source and underneath the facade of our minds and physical bodies we are all spiritual beings.
We are all in this together.
When you recognize the Divinity in everyone around you, life gets much easier. Its not always that easy but is certainly a way of life that will elevate your consciousness.
Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
– Voltaire
Being kind to others shows gratitude to the universe because you are thankful for everyone in your immediate and your extended environment.
All of life revolves around people.
Being grateful for the people who pick up your garbage or the people who make your movies or even the people from history who paved the way for your current lifestyle.
Being kind to others is a way of being grateful for them. Sometimes it just takes a smile or an eager ear to listen to their story.
Start practicing unconditional love and always lead with the giving hand – no matter where you go.
Start looking for ways to help and support others wherever you go. Small random acts of kindness will transform your life.
4. Don’t Complain, Don’t Explain
Life happens for you. In reality, EVERYTHING is a gift. In hindsight, we can all see how some of our worst experiences and toughest times were actually our greatest blessings.
The challenge is that while we are going through these difficult times we wish them away, we curse them and wonder why the universe has abandoned us.
With a more enlightened approach to life, you can start to ‘see’ that everything is a gift and that the universe is arranging everything in a way that will allow you to grow and expand to become what you really have to be.
- Be grateful for all your problems.
- Be grateful for all your struggles
- Be grateful for all those people who push your buttons
There are the very things you need in your life to grow and expand. Cursing them is a way of being ungrateful.
They are gifts. Just because you can’t yet see them as gifts does not make them any more or any less valuable.
Being grateful for your problems and struggles is a way to show gratitude to the universe.
It helps you to snap out of feeling angry, sad, or depressed about your problems and allows you to see the gift that it has to offer.
The irony is that only when you start seeing the hidden treasure in your problems can you start to move past them.
Always keep in mind that the universe always gives you what you ask for. The ways and means through which it delivers your ‘orders’ almost never come the way you dictate.
Be at peace with that.
Know that to show gratitude to the universe for everything that you think is ‘wrong’ is a way of letting go of your own demands for how you think things should be.
There is an intelligence far greater than you. Trust it by being grateful for this exciting adventure that is unfolding through every experience of your life.
One caveat I will add is that you don’t want to be grateful for the problems themselves. That will only cause more problems to manifest.
Be grateful for the lessons, the inspiration and the guidance that your problems are offering in propelling you to a higher level of consciousness.
5. Reverence For All of Creation
We are the custodians of this planet. We don’t get to own any of it – even though the title deed on your house may make you think you do.
Ultimately we don’t own anything. We only get to enjoy it for a short period of time and when we pass on from this life we leave it all behind.
This is a very empowering way of looking at life. It will also help you become more aware of the creation as a whole and how ALL of it is in Divine order.
Having reverence for ALL of life is a way of being grateful to the universe because it supplies us with everything we need to live a lavish life.
When eating fruit, remember the one who planted the tree.
– Vietnamese Proverb
The food we eat, the cars we drive and even the clothes we wear all come from this earth.
Start seeing everything as something that is alive. Its not just the living plants and animals but everything is energy.
Stop all forms of destruction and refuse to participate in anything that supports the destruction of our natural world.
Do your part in preserving and looking after the natural world. It is a powerful way to show gratitude to the universe.
6. Be All You Can Be
It is your duty to make the most of your life. You came into this life filled to the brim with possibilities.
Unfortunately we soon ‘learn’ about our limitations. Much of our education revolves around what we can’t do.
The truth is that you absolutely have immense gifts. Buckminster Fuller said that we are all born a genius but that the process of growing up is what strips us of our genius.
Becoming all that you can be is a way to show gratitude to the universe. Hoarding what you have and keeping it locked up inside you does nobody any favors.
Dr. Abraham Maslow talked about this concept that he called self actualization. It is when a person fulfills his or her true potential in life.
Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them.
– Buckminster Fuller
Very few people reach this level of life but we all have the possibility and the opportunity.
Look deep within yourself and start paying attention to your inner callings. Stop suppressing those things that your soul years for.
Your intuition knows the way. Just trust.
7. Give Away Everything You Have
I am not suggesting you go and sell all your belongings and give them away. That parable in The Bible is one of the most misunderstood of them all.
What is meant by giving away everything that you have does not refer to material possessions at all.
Giving away ‘everything’ refers to giving away your love, your joy, your compassion. It also refers to giving away your unique gifts and talents and sharing it freely and copiously with all the world.
In reality, this is the ONLY thing that all super successful people do.
They share freely everything that they are. They usually put that energy into a product or service but that is not always required.
Giving away all that you have and all that you are is a way to show gratitude to the universe because using what you have and giving it away is the very purpose of life.
Life is not about getting. Life is about giving.
Life is not about me, its about we.
Until and unless you understand that law of the universe you will always suffer from some sort of lack or limitation in your life.
You do not show any gratitude to the universe by hoarding your talents and your gifts. You do not show any gratitude to the universe by withholding your love, joy or compassion.
